A plan by New York State to remove part of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad has been stopped in its tracks.

Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned the plan, which was announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year. The rail trail idea would have removed the section of tracks between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid, replacing it with a 34-mile trail for bicyclists, hikers, snowmobilers and other uses.

The Adirondack Railway Preservation Society was behind the lawsuit to stop it. Its executive director says the decision is gratifying for all the people who put a lot of hard work into growing the railroad.

"We've been really carefully expanding business, growing business," said Railroad Executive Director Bethan Maher. "We've doubled ridership, so there's a lot of positives going on, and this is really the icing on the cake, because now we know what our future looks like and we know what we need to do to keep growing and keep impacting the communities along this rail line."

The Adirondack Railway Preservation Society has been working to link Utica to Lake Placid for decades. It says the plan is still to push forward to make that happen.